Economics
and Land-tenure in the Empire of the Seven Swords
All land in the Empire is
owned either by the Emperor or by one of the Prince-Electors. The Emperor grants in feudal tender parcels
of land to powerful nobles called Counts.
The Prince-Electors also grant parcels of land to nobles, who have the
title of Baron. Barons and Counts are
roughly equal in power, wealth and responsibility, but the Counts have a higher
precedence in matters of courtesy and deference. The Counts and Barons are obliged to provide fixed numbers of
knights, soldiers and money to their overlords based on the amount of land they
posses. The Counts and Barons, in turn,
grant parcels of land to vassals of their own.
The Manor
The most common method of organizing granted land is the
manor. A count or baron will grant a
manor to a Knight or Squire. The ruler
of the manner is titled “The Master of …” if he is a squire, or “The Knight
of…” if he is a knight. A manor must be at least 1 square mile of farmable
land. This will also come with 1 to 4
square miles of non-farmable land: 1 square
mile if in normal agricultural area, 2-4 in heavily forested, swampy, dry or
hilly country. The manor then is
subdivided into “plots”. Each plot
equals 25 acres and there are 25 such plots in a square mile of farmable
land. Each plot supports a family with
an average of 5 members. The plot
produces 150 gp per year, yielding 1250 gp per square mile of farmable land.
Knight’s Duties
In
exchange for the grant of land, a knight must serve in his overlord’s service
for 60 days per year, providing his own heavy warhorse, chain mail armor (or
better), shield, lance and sword, and bringing a squire-at-arms on a light war
horse and scale armor (or better) and a hand weapon. The Knight must also feed himself, his squire and horses during
the service and is required to keep his equipment in serviceable
condition. Usually, the overlord
expects 1 knight and squire-at-arms for each square mile of farmable land.
A Squire’s Duties
A landed squire with a grant of land pays “scutage” or
“shield money” in place of military service.
This payment is equal to 300 gp per square mile of farmable land, and is
roughly the cost for the overlord to pay and maintain a 4th level
knight for 60 days.
The Farmers’ Duties
Each 25-acre plot will be granted on one of three terms: Serf-hold, Yeoman-hold, or Sergeantry. A serf is required to pay 50 gp per year
in produce or labor to the holder of the manor (master’s choice). He may not move, marry or change occupation
without the master’s permission and his heirs must give the master his best
animal in order to inherit the property.
The serf, on the other hand may not be legally evicted from the
holding. A Yeoman holder must pay the
master 50gp per year in produce or cash.
After the harvest each year the yeoman or the master can terminate the
lease. A yeoman can be required to
serve in a local militia, which cannot be forced to move beyond the border of
the local county or barony. A yeoman is
otherwise a free man. A plot held as a
sergeantry is similar to a knight’s fee in that the holder (or his son) is
compelled to serve for 60 days a year as a foot soldier, archer or crossbowman
in the army of a noble. The soldier,
however, pays no rent or labor payment for his plot. A greater sergeantry requires the sergeant to serve as a light
cavalryman, but due to the expense of maintaining the horse, this sergeant must
be granted at least 3 25-acre plots.
Farming Economic
Breakdown:
1) The Family and Farm: A farm family
with a 25-acre plot produces 150 gp a year in food stuffs. The family consists (on average) of about 3
adults and 2 children.
2) Feeding the Family: a poor meal
costs 1sp per person per day, but a farm family can get it for ½ that price
since they make it themselves and there is no transport or middleman cost Children eat about ½ as much as he
adults. The adults costs 5cp each per
day to feed, and the children cost 5 cp per pair per day to feed, so to feed
the family for a year costs 73gp (360 day Caedean year).
3) Must pay the Rent: The family then spends 50 gp in rent to the master
of the manor.
4) Net Income: This leaves 27 gp per year as “disposable income”
for tools, clothes, ale and the like.
Many families will supplement this income in various ways, but that is
the baseline. Of course, if things go
badly in the harvest, the landlord doesn’t often offer rebates. Some families control 2 or more plots, which
can leave them quite prosperous, other families only control half a plot, which
leaves them wretchedly destitute. You
can see that a sergeant’s family has three times the disposable income of other
families, but the sergeant must provide his own arms and armor and risks death
in his master’s service. The farming is
harder on a sergeant’s family too, since one member is gone for 60 days a year.
Example Fief:
Roderick,
Baron of Rockingham, desires to guard the northern reaches of his barony near
the Orc Mountains. A track of good
farming land is available and so he chooses one of his household knights, Sir
Wilhelm, as his new tenant-vassal. Baron Roderick is interested in getting both cash and troops out
of the new knightly holding so he grants the new knight 10 square miles of land
(5 square miles of farmable land) in exchange for the service of 2 knights, 2
squires-at-arms, and 25 footmen for 60 days a year, and a 600 gp cash payment
per year.
Sir
Wilhelm is able to set up the fief anyway he likes as long as he meets the full
obligation set by the Baron:
Version 1: Sir Wilhelm
splits the entire fief into Yeoman plots and takes the cash income of 6,250 gp
per year, pays 600 to the Baron and hires a band of 50 mercenary footmen, 1
freelance knight and his squire for year-round service, leading the knight and
25 of the footmen in service to the Baron 60 days per year.
Expenses:
Cash payment to Baron= 600
gp
Salary
for 50 footmen 360 days x2sp/day x 50
men= 3600gp
Salary for 4th level knight: 360 days
x12sp/day= 432 gp
Salary for 2 1st level squires: 360 days
x4sp/dayx2= 288 gp
Food for whole force: 54 x360x 5cp= 972gp
Total
Expenses: 5892 gp
Net
Income 358
gp
The advantage to the knight
is that he has a good force of soldiers to use for whatever purposes he needs
for the whole year, he can even hire his band out for additional service to the
Baron for use beyond the 60 days of free service. 25 of the troops remain in the fief even when the others are in
service to the Baron.
Version 2: Sir Wilhelm grants 1 square mile to his cousin Sir
Burke in exchange for his service with a squire. He divides up one square mile as Sergeant plots for 25 footmen to
serve the baron, and divides the last three square miles up as Yeoman plots for
cash income. He gets 3750 gp in income,
and must serve the Baron with his cousin, their squires and the 25 sergeants
for 60 days per year. But, he has no
high maintenance expenses, beyond his household servants and arms. The disadvantage is that he has very little
military power for the majority of the year when he isn’t serving the baron.
Other Features:
The above rules are meant
for players in the position of the lower nobility and gentry who need to know
“what good does the land do for me.” If
you want further details, you can add them.
If you have 2 square miles of farmable land or more, there will probably
be a full-time blacksmith. The
blacksmith needs no land beyond his shop, but produces about 250 gp per year
for his own use, the master of the fief can charge about 50 gp of that in
rent. A master can license an inn,
which will bring him 75 gp per year, 200 gp if the fief is on a major road or
river crossing, and will give the innkeeper a gross income of 300gp on top of
that. A manor of 200 people or more is
likely to have shrine or church with a low-level cleric in it. A newly developed fief must have the buildings
created by the new master. The yeomen
or serfs will build their own huts, but the manor house, inn, church and any
other shops must be built at the master’s expense.
Attracting Vassals
If the player steps into a manor that already exists,
then the DM decides the population and details of vassalage. But, if the player carves out new land on
the frontiers, things will be different.
First of all the only way to get people to agree to take a serf holding
is to either conquer them or to free them from worse servitude (for example
freed slaves from the orcs of Gormak might see serfdom to brave knight as a
really good deal). All other potential
vassals will want either a sergeant’s or yeoman’s fief. Since there are usually younger sons,
vagabonds and day-laborers in plenty roll 1d6 “volunteer” families looking for
land at the beginning of each growing season (Spring Equinox). If the player actively recruits at a town,
roll an additional 1d6+ CHA bonus families to show up. Other families can be influence to come onto
the fief by direct role-play action.
Influencing another man’s vassals to switch lords happens often enough
and is one of the chief causes of private war among the nobles in the realm.